The visitors found themselves two goals down after a lacklustre first 55 minutes, in which time Andreas Weimann stunned Sir Alex Ferguson ‘s side by netting twice.

But Hernandez, who was introduced to the action at half-time for the ineffective Ashley Young , struck either side of a Ron Vlaar own goal to seal a 3-2 win for the Premier League leaders.

It was Villa who started the brighter and breached United’s defence on several occasions without really testing David de Gea.

But just before the break, Christian Benteke outpaced and outmuscled Chris Smalling on the left wing, before pulling the ball back to the waiting Weimann on the edge of the box, who fired high past the Spaniard.

And the Austrian made it two when he snuck in behind Rio Ferdinand to fire home Gabriel Agbonlahor’s cross early in the second half.

But the second goal was the wake-up call Manchester United needed and Hernandez put them back in contention eight minutes later when he latched onto a Paul Scholes pass and finished through Brad Guzan’s legs.

Five minutes later the visitors were level after Hernandez volleyed goalwards, only to see the ball cannon of Villa defender Ron Vlaar and into the back of the net.

And he completed the perfect second-half when he headed home from a Robin van Persie free-kick on 87 minutes to take all three points back to Manchester.